Austin | South Austin Projects

[tildahat]

Curious what others see happening in '45 in the next several years. (Full disclosure: that's where I live now and the previous house was in '45 too.)

I've always been surprised it's seen so little redevelopment and gentrification. I guess on some level, part of that is that it's so huge it's hard to make generalizations. But Stassney is about as far from 6th and Congress as Highland Mall and even William Cannon is about the same as Crestview from 6th and Congress, yet those areas are treated as 'central' and '45 is the hinterlands...

But I've always thought South Congress would have shifted a bit, but it pretty much looks like it has for years. It does seem on average east of the RR tracks is a little more run down (though there are nice spots and less nice ones all across the zip code).

Also, I would have expected the northern part around Westgate and Manchaca to have gentrified more. There are a few new infill projects but not what I would have expected, especially as close at it is to 78704.

One thing I'd love to see is some of the old dying strip malls to be turned into walkable town centers. I can walk to a fair amount of stuff (and sometimes walk with the kids to Westgate Lanes) but it's mostly not stuff I have any desire or need to go to...

Anyway, just curious what others opinions are.

[lzppjb]

My grandparents built their house there post-WWII. My grandpa built an addition onto it. Those neighborhoods are mostly medium sized houses with good sized backyards and mature trees. I basically grew up there up to HS as my grandma kept us kids before and after school while our parents worked. The house was on the Philco cul-de-sac, just west of the tracks.

I think it will eventually gentrify a bit. The older generations are unfortunately passing away. The houses get left to the kids and grandkids. They either get sold or renovated. We are in that boat right now. I don't know if it'll ever be all young single couples, which will keep it from being hip. I think it'll remain a family neighborhood. It seems Ben White is as far south as many are willing to go.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

My grandparents built their house there post-WWII. My grandpa built an addition onto it. Those neighborhoods are mostly medium sized houses with good sized backyards and mature trees. I basically grew up there up to HS as my grandma kept us kids before and after school while our parents worked. The house was on the Philco cul-de-sac, just west of the tracks.

I think it will eventually gentrify a bit. The older generations are unfortunately passing away. The houses get left to the kids and grandkids. They either get sold or renovated. We are in that boat right now. I don't know if it'll ever be all young single couples, which will keep it from being hip. I think it'll remain a family neighborhood. It seems Ben White is as far south as many are willing to go.

Hey Im from and still live in that neighborhood, im on Jinx Ave.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Hey Im from and still live in that neighborhood, im on Jinx Ave.

How old are you?

Did you know a Heather or Lacy? They'd be 29-30 now. I think they lived on that road. Either there or Hank.

[tildahat]

Just to be clear - I'm totally OK with it remaining family-oriented, I'm raising my kids here after all. Just would like more stuff to walk to, a neighborhood pub or two, some better restaurant and coffee shop choices, etc.

And I still think some of the stuff that hasn't been redeveloped is surprising, like the really rundown stuff on the west side of Westgate that's literally walking distance to million dollar homes in Sunset Valley.

Redeveloping old strip malls is just one of my pipe dreams to create little bits of walkability in older suburbia...

[lzppjb]

My cousin lives in the house there now. For food in that neighborhood, she really likes that little place by Randalls called Live Oak Market. It used to be a gas station. She says they have great sandwiches. The other place is the trailer Ah La Cart on Pack Saddle Pass.

I get your point about walkability though. That neighborhood has a ton of potential.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

How old are you?

Did you know a Heather or Lacy? They'd be 29-30 now. I think they lived on that road. Either there or Hank.

Im 32, names sound familiar im thinking back trying to remember lol

[tildahat]

Just noticed yesterday on my way to pick up my daughter from SSVE that right on Jones between the row of really, really run down duplexes on Westgate and the ones that appear to be well maintained over by the Montessori school was a duplex that appeared to be very new and modern. Interesting that the stuff on Westgate didn't deter them from building it....

[KevinFromTexas]

I live in 78745, and it feels more central to me than those northern neighborhoods. The access to downtown from our neighborhood cannot be beat. I can ride my bicycle to downtown in as little as 20 minutes, traffic and weather permitting. I can see Crockett HS from our patio, ACC is a 5 minute bike ride, the library is only 2 minutes further.

Our street has gone through a demographic change. I grew up here with a lot of families with kids. Those kids are grown up now and moved away, and most of the couples here now are middle aged. Most of the older people have passed away. My grandparents lived next door, they both passed away, and there's a young couple there now who renovated the house. And the house across the street from that house, the lady there also passed away a few years ago. It was bought by a house flipper, renovated, and was recently moved into. So right now it seems the bulk of our neighborhood is young to middle aged. The houses are being restored/renovated and added onto. There aren't too many kids anymore. I can think of maybe 2 houses on the street that I know of with young kids.

[KevinFromTexas]

West Gate and William Cannon give me the creeps as a cyclist or pedestrian. I pretty much never ride along those streets and try to find an alternate route instead. Way down West Gate it's a nice place to ride for recreation, but I don't ride strictly for recreation. Neither of those have bike lanes in those areas. West Gate does along the new section way down south, but there's so little traffic down there it doesn't matter much. William Cannon doesn't have bike lanes either from I-35 to Mopac. There are bike lanes on it west of Mopac headed towards Oak Hill. South First doesn't have bike lanes either, and one of our grocery stores is on it. When I ride my bike over there, I have to ride on the sidewalk, which I hate doing. And it's difficult when there are pedestrians since it's only about 3 feet wide. And of course there are none on Manchaca either, which is less of an issue because the sidewalks between William Cannon and Stassney on Manchaca are about 8 feet wide.

Meanwhile, they have widened the bike lanes on Stassney, at least putting down a double stripe to create a barrier. Same on Emerald Forrest, and they even put them way out from the curb since parked cars were making it hazardous to ride on that street, especially north of Stassney where it's all down hill.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

West Gate and William Cannon give me the creeps as a cyclist or pedestrian. I pretty much never ride along those streets and try to find an alternate route instead. Way down West Gate it's a nice place to ride for recreation, but I don't ride strictly for recreation. Neither of those have bike lanes in those areas. West Gate does along the new section way down south, but there's so little traffic down there it doesn't matter much. William Cannon doesn't have bike lanes either from I-35 to Mopac. There are bike lanes on it west of Mopac headed towards Oak Hill. South First doesn't have bike lanes either, and one of our grocery stores is on it. When I ride my bike over there, I have to ride on the sidewalk, which I hate doing. And it's difficult when there are pedestrians since it's only about 3 feet wide. And of course there are none on Manchaca either, which is less of an issue because the sidewalks between William Cannon and Stassney on Manchaca are about 8 feet wide.

Meanwhile, they have widened the bike lanes on Stassney, at least putting down a double stripe to create a barrier. Same on Emerald Forrest, and they even put them way out from the curb since parked cars were making it hazardous to ride on that street, especially north of Stassney where it's all down hill.

I always avoided the larger roads in '45. It takes awhile but I found backstreet routes to get where I needed to go. Emerald Forest isn't bad, but the section at the RR xing is terrible.

After living in '45 for awhile I realized the decade the neighborhood was developed is as important as the city it is in. Put it in other words I would probably take a pre-WWII neighborhood in another Texas city than an 80s/90s neighborhood in Austin. The car-first assumption is anathema to quality of life.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

I always avoided the larger roads in '45. It takes awhile but I found backstreet routes to get where I needed to go. Emerald Forest isn't bad, but the section at the RR xing is terrible.

After living in '45 for awhile I realized the decade the neighborhood was developed is as important as the city it is in. Put it in other words I would probably take a pre-WWII neighborhood in another Texas city than an 80s/90s neighborhood in Austin. The car-first assumption is anathema to quality of life.

The funny thing is our vet is in Hyde Park, and I always feel like our neighborhood is more bike friendly than that area, despite the consensus being otherwise. They have a bike shop and there's a (narrow) bike lane along 51st Street, but the traffic in the area always seems so hectic, and Airport Boulevard is definitely not bike friendly. And we did have a bike shop on Manchaca near Stassney, but they moved to South Congress near Live Oak.

[lzppjb]

I'm not a bike guy at all, but I can see the positives of having a bike lane. Stassney and William Cannon can have them with just a little bit of work. As a driver, bikes can sometimes get in the way, but mostly it's just a safety thing. I'd rather them have that than riding in a car lane (dangerous for cyclists) or riding on the sidewalk (dangerous for pedestrians).

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

The funny thing is our vet is in Hyde Park, and I always feel like our neighborhood is more bike friendly than that area, despite the consensus being otherwise. They have a bike shop and there's a (narrow) bike lane along 51st Street, but the traffic in the area always seems so hectic, and Airport Boulevard is definitely not bike friendly. And we did have a bike shop on Manchaca near Stassney, but they moved to South Congress near Live Oak.

I love cycling on Duval but not on 51st St. Central areas in Austin, and probably most cities, adhere more to a grid system which gives you lots of options.

Yes, Airport Blvd. isn't great to cycle on but keep in mind you have put your bike on the train at Highland Mall and avoid it. I go from Holly to the Triangle using the Highland Mall stop, bike-train-bike.

Is there a bike shop in 78745? I always went to Bicycle Sport Shop on S. Lamar when I lived there.

Yeah I can't imagine COA taking away a car lane on say W. Cannon to provide a bike lane. Same thing with S. First and parts of Manchaca. Even Davis Lane can get hairy sometimes.

[lzppjb]

http://www.bikealotaustin.com/

On Pack Saddle Pass where I mentioned the Ah La Cart food trailer.

[KevinFromTexas]

The only two bike shops showing up on Google that are in 78745 are near Ben White, so basically in 78704. I've been going to Performance Bike on South Lamar for a few years. There used to be several shops on South First north of Ben White that we used to go, but they've since closed. The nearest one to me now is Bikealot on Pack Saddle Pass near Ben White. I haven't been to that one actually.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by tildahat

But Stassney is about as far from 6th and Congress as Highland Mall and even William Cannon is about the same as Crestview from 6th and Congress, yet those areas are treated as 'central' and '45 is the hinterlands...

I think there's a few reasons behind this.

1. UT. Historically UT has been such a big part of Austin that the true "center" of town isn't 6th and Congress, it's somewhere further north between downtown and UT(the percentage has decreased recently as Austin has grown, but it's still a respectable portion).

2. The river/town lake/ladybird lake. Even today there's just a few connections across the lake. It's been easier for Austin to stretch North than South.

3. Environmental/Developmental restrictions. There are more in the south of town. SoS/Recharge Zone/Karst. Helps to limit density.

[KevinFromTexas]

Well here's one for 78745. A few months ago I noticed the trees were cleared from a lot at 6500 Manchaca Road. This is located between William Cannon & Stassney.

I had searched for anything related to it on the city's site plan review website, but didn't find anything. Yesterday, though, I was riding past the lot with my camera and snapped a few photos. Today I did a search for the property again, and there's an updated site plan review from this month. It also has a link to the older site plan, which I didn't realize existed, but apparently this project goes back to 2009.

Anyway, from the site plan it has a building elevation that shows the height as 59 feet 6 inches with 4 floors. The site plan says they're planning 4 vertical mixed use buildings. The property is 6.3 acres, so it's pretty big and has approximately 600 feet of frontage along Manchaca Road.

That's comparable to what's already in the area. The South Austin ACC Campus is just north of there on Stassney and is 55 feet with 3 floors. That building was even supposed to be taller, 62 feet with 4 floors, but they scaled it down.

Site plan review is here. The building elevation is in the first link. I'm wondering if they'll stick with that plan. This says they're asking for a revision to the original.

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=10880075



The apartments in the back are accessed by a driveway from Manchaca Road that runs south of this property.




They still haven't removed the pile of trees yet, but they do have those construction borders up near the sidewalk.

[tildahat]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Well here's one for 78745. A few months ago I noticed the trees were cleared from a lot at 6500 Manchaca Road. This is located between William Cannon & Stassney.

I've been curious what that is - my kids used to go to the montessori school across the street.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Well here's one for 78745. A few months ago I noticed the trees were cleared from a lot at 6500 Manchaca Road. This is located between William Cannon & Stassney.

I had searched for anything related to it on the city's site plan review website, but didn't find anything. Yesterday, though, I was riding past the lot with my camera and snapped a few photos. Today I did a search for the property again, and there's an updated site plan review from this month. It also has a link to the older site plan, which I didn't realize existed, but apparently this project goes back to 2009.

Anyway, from the site plan it has a building elevation that shows the height as 59 feet 6 inches with 4 floors. The site plan says they're planning 4 vertical mixed use buildings. The property is 6.3 acres, so it's pretty big and has approximately 600 feet of frontage along Manchaca Road.

That's comparable to what's already in the area. The South Austin ACC Campus is just north of there on Stassney and is 55 feet with 3 floors. That building was even supposed to be taller, 62 feet with 4 floors, but they scaled it down.

Site plan review is here. The building elevation is in the first link. I'm wondering if they'll stick with that plan. This says they're asking for a revision to the original.

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=10880075

This link was not helpful at all. I've clicked the first link, but I have no idea nor the time to click through all of the links (which are all downloads) in that first link to figure out which is the site plan and elevation.